D420 LATITUDE mini-review with M1710 comparisons

[MrMsyvc]

I recently acquired a DELL LATITUDE D420 laptop as a lightweight "spare" and complement to my larger, high-powered DELL XPS M1710 laptop. (See my M1710 review in my sig.) The D420 weighs 3+ lbs, has a 12.1" screen, and is considered an ultralight, as compared to the 8.8 lbs, 17" screen, desktop replacement M1710. It has already been perfect for chair-side, sofa, or bed while checking email, surfing the 'Net, reading books, or playing online Sudoku, which is all I want it for and all I expect it to do. After a year in production the M1710 is still a top-notch, do-it-all, high performance laptop, but it gets a bit lap-heavy during a long evening, and taking to bed for a final round of Sudoku or to read myself to sleep is out of the question. Sure, I could get a bed table to sit up to, but with the D420 I can recline on sofa or bed and compute until the eyelids get droopy. (Life is HARD!)

(For the technically challenged, the D420 is the small one sitting atop the XPS.)


See what I mean?


Picture is blurry, not your vision, but you get the idea.

As the D420 has been in production since Aug-Sep. 2006 this is a "mini" review of my personal impressions compared to my experience with the M1710. You can find thorough D420 reviews:
One
Two
Three

For you techies, the configuration is next, with comparisons to the major components on my M1710. My spec is about as minimal as you could get with this laptop:

· Processor: Intel ULV Core Solo U1300 @ 1.06GHz with 2MB L2 Cache 533MHz
[M1710: Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33 GHz with 4MB L2 Cache 667 MHz]

A 1.06GHz CPU is a verrry small processor in 2007, but it performs my required tasks quite well. It does run hot, around 52-55C, even in Max Battery mode on AC at 800MHz. I've seen it get to 65C and once to 72C. Running hot is a common condition with the D420 and I've seen it reported in several reviews and forums. I am using the I8kfangui utility to control the fan, and I'm now running the RMClock utility for undervolting, dropping it from a low 0.975 to lower 0.938. I'm not worried about the heat (I have 2 years left on warranty). Just be aware. By comparison my undervolted M1710 runs in the mid-upper 40sC, considerably cooler. Bootup time of theD420 is fast, about one minute or less. This is possibly due to only 36 processes currently running, compared to 50+ on the M1710.

On the plus side, it makes my M1710 look FASSSSST!

· Memory:512MB DDR2 SDRAM @ 533MHz (permanent embedded RAM)
[M1710: 4GB DDR2 SDRAM @ 667MHz]

Again, 512MB isn't much these days, but it surfed fine. I added a 1GB stick and it's even faster. Very satisfactory.

On the plus side, it makes my M1710 look FASSSSST!

· Hard Drive: 30GB 1.8" 4200rpm
[M1710: 80GB 2.5" 7200rpm. Soon to be upgraded to 160GB.]

Again, 30GB isn't much these days, but it is doing the job. It is 27.9GB actual in Windows Explorer (it's that manufacturer vs. Windows measurement thing) with 23-24+GB left after Win XP sp2 and a few other things. Since I'm not using it for storage, there is plenty of room to play. I may add MS Word and Excel, but it will still have sufficient space. 4200rpm is pretty slow, but it's not horrible and I don't need the performance of 5400 or 7200.

On the plus side, it makes my M1710 look FASSSSST!

· CD/DVD Drive: External D-bay DVD+/-RW DVD BURNER Drive included
[M1710: Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive]

Other than reading CDs I haven't tested functionality yet. Having an external drive, with the Dell proprietary D-Bay connector, "could" be a drag on that portability I'm raving about, but it's not for me. I'm using Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel v2.0.1.1 and an ISO file to read my favorite CD, the (nearly) complete works of Ayn Rand. Another reason I bought the D420 with D-Bay drive is that the D-Bay (AND THE D420 ITSELF!) plugs into the D/Dock I use with my M1710. (See the first picture back at the top of this review. That's the D-Bay drive sitting on top of the D/Dock behind the laptops.)

· Video:Intel Integrated Graphic 950 GMA
[M1710: 512MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX]

It works and animated windows in web pages work, but the screen started flashing one time and I had to hard power off. I'm going to update the drivers, but it's not supposed to be a graphics screamer anyway. I can live with it. The colors and general display are FINE! When the D420 is in my D/Dock it runs my Sony HX-73 external monitor just fine.

On the plus side, it makes my M1710 look FASSSSST!

· Sound:Built-in Stereo sound

· Modem: Integrated v.90/v.92 56KB modem (RJ-11 connector)

· Network: Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)+ Dual Band Wireless A/B/G

· LCD Display: 12.1 inch WXGA+ screen (1280 x 800)
[M1710: 17 inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WUXGA (1900 x 1200)]

It's a "matte" (non-, or less, reflective) screen which has very decent color and brightness. I think it looks great considering it is a very small, under-powered laptop.

See the screen comparison pic below.

· Digital Media:Smart card reader + SD media reader

· External Ports:
2 Universal Serial Bus: USB 2.0
1 headphone-out
1 microphone-in
1 VGA (15-pin)
1 RJ-11 (modem)
1 RJ -45 (LAN)

· PCMCIA Slot: One Type I/II PC card slot CardBus-enabled

· AC / DC Adapter:Included

· Battery: Included, good

The D420 came with the 4-cell 28Wh battery. I'm getting about 2hr 15min use out of it, which isn't bad, but that's not quite an evening so I bought a 9-cell 68Wh on eBay, for which I'm getting 5-6 hours. That much better. The caveat is that the 9-cell battery adds a hefty pound to the super-light D420, though it is still one-handed manageable at 4+ lbs. Also, the 9-cell sticks out the front with the look and feel of a palm rest. Stylish!

FYI my M1710 still gets around 2:20 on its year-old battery.

· Operating System: Windows XP Professional with SP2

Dell M1710, Sony HX-73 monitor, and Dell D420
Pic doesn't do any of them justice. They are all highly satisfactory.

PURCHASE:
I bought the laptop from THIS seller on eBay. The transaction was flawless so I gave the seller high marks in the feedback. I bought it at auction (Bidding) rather than at a fixed price (Buy It Now) and I feel like my winning bid was reasonable. That can be unusual on eBay as bidding tends to elevate prices BEYOND reasonable. When bidding, I set a limit for myself on the max I will pay, and I either get it or I don't.

KaCee the genuine original DEA drug sniffing Westie and K.C. Chiefs fan checks out the new equipment

BUILD QUALITY:
Excellent. Case feels solid and sturdy. Exterior case material appears as though it will not scratch as easily as some soft plastics, even though the material appears to be ... uhhh ... plastic! The lid latch closes firmly and opens easily.

Keyboard has full-size keys for the numbers and QWERTY area, half-height for the function keys. Typing on it has a good, "normal" feel, not too firm, not too soft or spongy.

It has a touchpad with left and right click keys which works well. There is also a "thumbstick" cursor control between the G-H-B keys, with its own left-right click keys just below the Space Bar. It is a plastic "knobby" tip which I like better than the "eraser" head you find on many laptops. The thumbstick is handy for navigating all the way across the screen and I do not find myself hitting the touchpad very often like you might on many dual control machines. This may also have to do with a less sensitive setting on the touchpad currently.

SPEAKERS:
Just one. It emits recognizable sound and it's not Bose or Klipsch quality.

HEAT and NOISE:
Heat has been mentioned. It runs hot but is not uncomfortable or intolerable. The fan runs on "slow" (5500rpm!) most of the time and I have it set in I8kfangui to kick into high (7700rpm!) at 68C.

The D420 in the D/Dock with the D-Bay on the left


The D420 up and running the Sony monitor


Bottom line? I LIKE IT! It is a grrrrrreat SPARE laptop!

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!